Pot measures successful at the municipal level, not state

Voters have been inundated with so much this election season. Never is that more apparent than the issues with marijuana.

A lot has been written and said about Berthoud Question 300, Fort Collins Question 301 and Colorado Amendment 64.

Questions 300 and 301 impact residents of their respective communities in a more direct way. Both would affect medical marijuana dispensaries; 300 would ban those in Berthoud, and 301 would overturn a voter-approved ban in Fort Collins. The fear from those who wish to ban dispensaries is that children will have easier access to marijuana and people will find ways to get it.

Heavy regulation -- heavier than in many other communities -- should address those fears.

The medical marijuana Herb's Medicinals in Berthoud sells comes packaged with a bar code. If it is used improperly, authorities know where it comes from, and those card holders are punished. This is how the owners of the dispensaries make their living, which is why extra precautions are taken.

"I wouldn't put our patients at risk to sell out the backdoor," Herb's Medicinals owner Michele Ballinger told the Reporter-Herald recently. For the dispensaries to remain effective, all owners in the region should follow the lead of Ballinger.

Voters in Fort Collins will be asked to overturn that city's ban and enact its own tight regulatory structure.

Regulated dispensaries provide a needed service to the community when they do it the right way. The legal way.

That's why we do not support Question 300 but do support Question 301 and urge voters to vote the same.

Amendment 64, on the other hand, would treat marijuana like alcohol. As long as federal law prohibits such behavior, meaning there is no point to a patchwork of state measures such as those in Oregon or Washington to supersede it. That puts the local and state authorities in an awkward spot.

Unfortunately, one can easily imagine the tourism that would come Colorado's way if Amendment 64 passes.

Weed tourism, anyone?

Unlike the dispensaries, Amendment 64 does not serve the public good.

Until the federal government tackles the issue of how federal and state laws are in conflict on medical marijuana, there is no point to Amendment 64.